AFOCD Educators & Coaches

Meet our Educators and Coaches. All of us have gone through our own challenges. We empathize with yours and want to help support and educate you to balance and wellness.

James Callner, MA, AFOCD President
Mr. Callner started his teaching and professional filmmaking career in his early twenties. He has earned over 35 national and international awards and critical acclaim for writing and directing films about physically and emotionally challenged individuals.

In 1982, Mr. Callner himself was afflicted with the devastating anxiety disorder Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). After over two decades of cognitive, behavioral, spiritual, medical and alternative therapies and treatments, James Callner has emerged as a personal coach, public speaker and educator on moving though the fears and anxieties of life and into self confidence, self esteem and hope.

Paula Sneddon, M.S.W., A.C.S.W.
Ms. Sneddon received her Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Boston University, and her Masters Degree in Social Work in 1973 from the Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston, MA. Her background includes being a Clinical Social Worker at Good Samaritan Hospice as well as at Brookline, Beverly, Danvers Visiting Nurse Association. She has worked with individuals, families and couples of all ages in short and long term therapy and crisis intervention. Ms. Sneddon has offered services including evaluation, treatment & referral of clients and addressing problems of depression, anxiety, separation, loss, illness and grief. Most recently, Ms. Sneddon was the Lead producer, Awareness Films, "In the Shoes of Christopher". She has a child with OCD, and offers understanding and compassion for families living with OCD.

Gail Adams, E.d.D.
Dr. Adams holds a master's degree in Special Education and a doctorate in Educational Psychology. She has worked extensively in the area of childhood OCD and speaks about the impact of OCD on children and adolescents in the school setting, as well as the role of school personnel in an OCD intervention. Currently, Dr. Adams has an adjunct position as Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Dr. Adams enables her audiences to learn in a simple, constructive way what OCD is and how educators, health care workers, students, and the general public can gain practical understanding of OCD and related disorders. She has published several articles on OCD and related disorders including her booklet: School Personnel: A Critical Link in the Indentification and Treatment and Management of OCD .

James Berkheimer, B.A.
Mr. Berkheimer spent many years as a paramedic dealing with people in crisis. He received his BA in Psychology at UC Berkeley, and has done graduate studies in counseling at California State University East Bay. For ten years, Mr. Berkheimer was a crisis intervention counselor to emergency services personnel as a peer counselor. Mr. Berkheimer teaches Aikido (the Art of Peace) and is a Master Reiki Practitioner.